Get access to in-depth analysis: Beyond the crockpots and face painting, Carnival races serve up high-level competition, with top-ranked juniors and former D-team skiers generating minimum point penalties.

For U.S. Ski Team coach Sasha Rearick and his troops, life is pretty sweet. ‘I’ve been coaching Jake for a long time’ said Rearick, ‘and this is the most confident I’ve ever seen him. … I’m also fired-up for the rest of our guys; they’ve been working their butts off, and they’re starting to ski fast.’

Despite a major mistake, Lanning hammered down the fastest run of the afternoon, earning his second career NorAm podium finish. His first came in Monday’s race. ‘T.J. was really excited about the way he skied his second run’ added Rearick, ‘which is nice to see, because it’s been a long road back [from years of injury] for him.’

Beyond Lanning and Zamansky, a throng of American skiers dominated the result sheets on Tuesday. Jesse Marshall (fourth), Evan Weiss (sixth) and Scott Veenis (seventh) each had their second top-10 finishes in as many days. Starting 39th, Kevin Francis, an athlete who primarily focuses on speed events, sparked a fifth-place second run and finished 14th overall; fellow speed-demon Erik Fisher was also in the mix, finishing the day in 11th place.

Zamansky and Lanning will own the first-and second-place spots in the overall NorAm GS standings until March, when the final GS races will take place in Panorama, British Columbia.

Guay, at once the dominant Canadian and junior of the field for the past two days, will not race slalom on Wednesday or Thursday. The young Canadian is en route to Adelboden, Switzerland, for a World Cup GS start. Canadian Development coach Peter Rybarik explained, ‘Stefan’s consistent hard work and good results have earned him an opportunity to race [the] Adelboden GS … and maybe even a chance to meet the first of two Olympic qualifying criteria.’